The invention relates to a seat frame of an adjustable seat in a vehicle with a seat carrier having two side parts and one rear tie-bar and provided with at least one transverse shaft for the transmission of an adjusting movement from one side of the seat to the other, said transverse shaft being borne in the two seat parts and having for each seat side an adjusting arm fastened on it.
According to the state of the art, seat frames are made as weldment. That means that each side part is welded with the rear tie-bar, for example by spot weldings. A stable construction is thus achieved that meets the practical requirements.
A seat frame of the type mentioned above made in such a weldment technique has the disadvantage to be quite difficult to produce. The different parts have indeed to be all brought together before they are welded. The transverse shaft for example has to be installed before the two side parts may be attached to the rear tie-bar. According to the state of the art, it is not possible to use a through part that would combine in one piece the two side parts as well as the rear tie-bar since the mounting of the at least one transverse shaft cannot be realized.
The construction according to the state of the art entails that, once mounted and welded, a seat carrier cannot be changed any more. This entails that the complete seat carrier of the seat frame has to be made entirely during the mounting and welding procedure; there is no possibility of working with subassemblies. When the seat carriers have different outfits, for example with and without adjustment, the complete seat carriers have to be assembled. That means that for different outfits different assembling and welding stations are required too.
When a finished seat carrier is provided with the corresponding bores for the bearing of a transverse shaft, the transverse shaft may also be mounted subsequently if it may still be pushed-in freely in axial direction. This however means that the adjusting arms that have to be fastened on the shaft have to be retrofitted. This again makes the mounting procedure even more difficult.
That is where the invention is brought to bear. Its object is to develop a seat carrier of a seat frame of the type mentioned above in such a way that a retrofitting of a transverse shaft into a finished seat carrier is possible, that""s to say that it may be designed in modular system.
On the basis of the seat frame mentioned above, the solution of the invention is to provide at least one side part with a location recessxe2x80x94preferably open in its bottom partxe2x80x94that freely receives the transverse shaft, to provide in the side part, beside the location recess, first fastening means and to have the transverse shaft encompassed by a bearing part (preferably between the adjusting arms fastened on the shaft), said bearing part bearing the transverse shaft, bridging the location recess and constituting second fastening means corresponding to the first fastening means.
Only one side part has to be provided with a location recess, since, when retrofitting the transverse shaft, the transverse shaft may be guided obliquely in a bore for the bearing of the other side part, so that there, a location recess is not necessary. On principle though it is possible to provide both side parts with a location recess. In a preferred embodiment however, only one side part is equipped with such a location recess.
Thanks to the location recess, at least one ready-made transverse shaft may be mounted subsequently. It does not matter whether at least one of the adjusting arms is located or not between the two side parts. Usually, the two adjusting arms are located within the area defined by the two side parts. Thanks to the invention, it is also possible to arrange at least one adjusting arm also outside, that is to say on the outer side of the corresponding side part. If each side part is equipped with a location recess, both adjusting arms may be arranged on the outer side of the corresponding side part.
In each side part, the bearing part is bearing the transverse shaft together with the location recess. The bearing part may be fixed in the location recess, whereas the fixation may be done by welding, riveting, screwing and the like.
According to the invention, a seat frame may be either welded or provided with removable fastening means between the two side parts and the tie-bar or made of one piece. Usually, the seat frame has also a front tie-bar that is also connected with the two side parts in a removable or permanent relationship.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the bearing part is located between the corresponding adjusting arm and a driving part that is for example designed as a toothed quadrant. To arrange an adjustable arm on the other side of the corresponding side part serving as driving part for the swivelling motion of the transverse shaft is, according to the state of the art, complicated, since, in case of weldment and as already mentioned above, the complete seat carrier has always to be produced. This complicated installation is now avoided and the parts may be mounted one after the other. This shows to be particularly advantageous with seat carriers equipped in different ways. The side parts and the tie-bar may thus be assembled together first without any necessity to mount the other parts. The other parts, such as for example the usually two transverse shafts and the front tie-bar, may be retrofitted. In this way, seat frames of different outfit may still be produced in the same devices in the beginning, a specialization being required only later on.
In the preferred embodiment, the transverse shaft only has one unique driving part that is assigned to one side part. In said preferred embodiment of the invention, the adjusting arm or the other side part is located on the inner side of this side part, being thus located between the two side parts. It is then possible to provide the considered side part with a bore for the bearing into which a free end of the transverse shaft may be inserted. The free end is freely projecting relative to the adjusting arm.
In a preferred development of the invention, the tie-bar is removably connected to the side parts. Thus, the tie-bar may be subsequently exchanged. This is of advantage with a tie-bar that has for example to be provided with fastening means for a child""s seat, for example with a so-called Isofix-fastening. It is thus another characteristic of the invention that the tie-bar is provided with holding means for the reception of small children.
The at least one transverse shaft may either be a front transverse shaft or a rear transverse shaft. A rear transverse shaft is preferably used. A swivelling bridge is also preferably used as a means to adjust the front edge of the seat, said swivelling bridge being borne in the front area of the side parts. Said bridge may also be retrofitted.
Further advantages and characteristics of the invention will become clear in the other claims and in the description of the embodiment of the invention. The embodiment mentioned is an example and is not limiting the scope of the invention. Said embodiment is shown in the drawing with the aid of which it will be explained in more details. The drawing shows in: